Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - How to Neighbor, Part 1: Races Reconciled

Episode Date: May 2, 2016

As the world grows more connected, our neighbors are closer than ever. But how close are we to our neighbors? You might not share a fence, but you can still share their burdens and joys. Now’s the time to show the world How to Neighbor. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world through church online. If you'd like to learn more about us, you can always visit us online by going to life.church. Today, our senior pastor Craig Rochelle begins an all-new message series that teaches us how being a neighbor is more than just a simple smile and a wave. And today, we'll learn that caring for each other can be done despite our racial differences in part one of how to neighbor. No. Hey, at all of our life churches today, could you join me in giving praise to God and celebrating that we get to be a part of seeing over 1,500 people made new by Christ in baptism this weekend. We celebrate that.

We worship God. For every single one of you that are being baptized this weekend, it's overwhelming to me, even to start to comprehend what that means. every single one of you, you have a story that matters to God. It matters to us. We love you. God loves you. Congratulations to everyone who's being baptized this weekend. As we show love to our neighbors, we're starting a brand new message series that's actually called How to Neighbor. What we're going to do is we're going to look at four of the most important and big issues in the world today and talk about how do we neighbor those that may need help or may be different than us.

In fact, today I want to start with one that is a big subject and very important, and I believe that the church is called to be a part of the solution. The topic I want to talk to you about today is the idea of racism. Now, as we talk about racism, I just want to start by acknowledging that I have a very limited perspective, and so it's with a pure heart that I'm going to do my best to talk about a very, very important issue that I believe as Jesus followers, we need to lead the way in showing love to everyone. And I want to open up with a text, actually an encounter that Jesus had with a guy, Jesus tells a story that speaks to how to neighbor, and it actually deals with

racism as well. If you have your Bibles, you want to follow along. We're going to be in Luke Chapter 10. And there's an interesting encounter that Jesus has with an expert in the law. This guy comes up to Jesus and ask a question. The expert in the law says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus does what Jesus often does. He answers a question with a question. He asks the guy, well, what is written in the law? And the guy responds, well, it says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus says, Bing, Bing, Bing, that's exactly right. You've nailed it on the head. Now, go and live it. Go and do that. And the guy says, okay, I'm supposed to love God and love my neighbor. Then he asks a very

pointed, very specific, very clarifying question. The guy in verse 29 wanted to justify himself. So he knows he's supposed to love his neighbor. He asked Jesus, what question? Ask it aloud with me. He says, and who is my neighbor? Okay, I'm supposed to love people, but who exactly do I have to love? Okay, if I'm supposed to love my neighbor, I need to know who is my neighbor. In other words, Jesus, do I have to love people that listen to the wrong kind of music? Because, you know, I listen to the right kind of music. Do I have to listen to people that maybe weren't educated in the way I was educated? Because, you know, I'm pretty important because I have an education and not everybody else does.

Do I have to love them too, okay? Do I have to love people who have, like, weird hair and tattoos? and ear piercings, nose piercings, maybe even booby piercings. Did we just go there in church? Yes, we did. We're going to get real today. Are you with me? Can we do that?

I don't know. We just just happened. You can't take it back. It just happened. Do we have to love those people? Do we have to love them if they have a different accent than we do? If they speak a different language than we do. Jesus, do I have to love someone who has a different color skin?

I know I'm supposed to love my neighbor, but I didn't need to know who does that include? Who is my neighbor? What's interesting is Jesus doesn't answer the question about who to neighbor. What he does is he shows us how to neighbor. Jesus is going to assume everybody is your neighbor, and he shows us specifically how to neighbor,

and he tells this story. He says there was a guy, and it was a Jewish guy, who was going along to Jericho, and a band of robbers come and beat the tar out of this guy. Just beat the daylight sound of him. leave him bleeding off in a ditch, and perhaps this Jewish victim is going to die if he doesn't get medical attention.

Well, two guys actually walk by, and they both happen to be Jewish as well. One of them is a priest, and he sees his Jewish brother over there in the ditch bleeding, and what does a priest do? The priest kind of walks on by. And you could probably understand perhaps why, because if he got near a dead guy

or touched a guy that was unclean, the priest would be ceremonially unclean, therefore he couldn't go to the temple that day. And so he could possibly justify why it would cost him too much to help this poor guy. Then a Levite goes by, another Jewish man sees the Jewish wounded man, and a Levite does the same thing and pretends like he doesn't see him or whatever and walks on by. Then Jesus says three words. And when he said these three words, it would have been jaw-droppingly shocking to his audience.

What three words did he say? If you look in your notes, he said what? say it with me, he said, but a Samaritan. One more time, not a Jewish man, but what? But a Samaritan as he traveled, came to where the man was. And when he saw him, what did he do? The Samaritan took pity on this poor victim. And he went to him, he went to him, he went to him, bandages wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Now, why was this so shocking? Jesus said, but a Samaritan man went to help the Jewish victim. And the reason this was shocking is because the Jews hated

the Samaritan, the Samaritans hated the Jews, and this was a 700 year hate fest. Why? Well, 700 years prior, whenever the Jews were exiled, some of them were left behind, and they actually intermarried with someone from a different race. They married people who worshipped pagan gods, and so when they reproduced, they had children that were from mixed races, and the one race worship pagan gods. So the Jewish people hated the offspring who were known as Samaritans. And since the Samaritans were hated by the Jewish people,

they just did what we naturally do. We hate right on back, right? Because if you hate me, I hate you back. And that's what happened. 700 years they hated each other. And this Samaritan guy who would have been hated by the Jewish guy did one simple act. What did he do?

Instead of walking this way, he walked across the street. And he took pity on another human being, and even though he was from a different race, this guy showed love to a man that was in need. Dr. Martin Luther King said this in probably his far most famous speech. He said this.

He said, the first question the priest and the Levite asked was, if I stopped to help this man, what will happen to me? What will happen to me? Then he said, the good Samaritan reversed the question and said, if I do not stop and help this man, what will happen to him?

And this in so many ways is the heart of the gospel. It's loving God and loving others, even if they are different from us and some might argue especially if they are different from us. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said, love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Dennis Leary says this about, racism I thought this was really important. He said racism isn't born folks, it's taught.

It's not born. It's not inherited. There's no racist gene. It's not born. It's taught. He says, I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps, right? If you got a two-year-old, you know that, right? A two-year-old doesn't hate somebody else because of the color of their skin. This is something that's taught. It's not something that is inherited. Why is it that that people become racist over time. Well, I see three reasons. One is we're maybe a victim of hatred. Someone mistreats us because of the color of our skin.

Someone mistreats someone that we love because of the color of their skin. And so we feel like, well, we can't trust them, therefore I don't like them and they don't like me. Second thing is it's taught, well, in our family, we don't hang around those people. I mean, you know, they haven't been to whatever. And we don't trust them

and they're all like this and whatever. And it's, and it's taught. and handed down from generation to generation. The third thing is just ignorance. It's a lack of perspective. It's a lack of exposure. Like, well, you know, they're different and so I must not like them. And no matter what the reason we have to recognize this,

if you're taking notes, and this is so, so, so, so important, is that racism is not a skin issue. Racism is a sin issue. Let me say it again. This is so important. We need to recognize that racism is not a skin issue. Somebody's going to help me preach this today. I can feel it.

Okay, what is it? It is a sin issue. In fact, James 2.9 says this. If you favor some people over others, what are you doing? You're committing a sin. He said, you are guilty of breaking the law. Hey, I like you because you look like me. I mean, my kids can play with your kids because they look like my kids.

I mean, we were educated in the same place. We looked at the same way. You know, we're kind of the same economics sphere. So, hey, we're, oh, but you're different, you see. You're raised on the other side of the street. Oh, you don't listen to the same music. Oh, you have a different color skin. Anytime we act like that, it is not a skin issue.

It is a sin issue. We have to call it what it is. It is not right before God, and it should not be right before us. And that raises the big question. As Jesus followers, how are we called to love our neighbors? How are we called to love those who may look a little bit different than us? And I want to raise three very important issues today. And with God's help, we will get this right and we will love our neighbors as ourselves.

The first thing if you're taking notes, and this is more difficult than it sounds, but we have to get this right. Number one, we need with God's help to be honest, to be transparent, to be sincere, and number one, recognize our prejudices. We need to recognize our prejudices. And this is really difficult to do because prejudices are so difficult. to see in the mirror because we often feel justified in how we might feel against someone else. And even if our prejudice mindset or our racist attitude isn't intentional, it's still real and

it's still sinful. It could be totally accidental. In fact, I'll tell you a story that Pastor Danny Durand tells. He's one of our pastors. In fact, Pastor Danny and his team just launched the 25th Life Church location, shows some love for Overland Park, Kansas, meeting today we love you guys. Here's a picture of Pastor Danny with his kids. Pastor Danny was mowing his yard in his new house, in his new city, and somebody came up and said, hey man, how much do you charge to mow yards? Okay. Now, when Pastor Danny tells this story, he kind of laughs and chuckles and didn't take tremendous offense to it, but what do we see? That's accidental racism all day long, at its best, that someone who really didn't mean to, but based on the color of his skin,

made a judgment. And I'll just be real honest, let's call it what it is. No one's ever stopped me and asked me how much I charge to mow a yard. Could be because I don't mow my own yard, but that's besides the point. I did for years, okay? And no one ever asked me, hey, hey, white guy, how much do you charge to mow the yard? And we have to call it what it is when we see it in our own hearts. This is wrong.

It's prejudice. it's judgmental, it's racist, call it what it is. At its root, what does the word prejudice mean? This is in your notes. It means prejudging. It's a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. And I bet most of you, if you had the courage to be really honest, you would admit that you were raised most likely with some type of prejudice.

Why? Because we're sinful people and we are prejudiced. disposed to making wrong judgments about people. I was raised in a household that kind of talked about, you know, rich people are kind of greedy. Rich people are this and that. And that's what a lot of my friends, and that's what I grew up being taught to wrongly believe. Maybe you grew up thinking, well, heavy people are really lazy. The younger generation, they simply won't work. All megachurch pastors are slimy, greedy crooks. Why do you guys laugh at that? Have you heard All of them are the same way, right?

That's what a lot of people say. Old people, they're useless. They can't teach you anything. White guys can't jump. I don't know what it is, you know. But you grew up thinking certain things about certain people, and we have to have the courage to acknowledge it, to admit it, to say,

maybe I'm prejudiced about such and such. If you've ever said, I'm not racist, but there is nothing good that comes after a but in that sentence. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. I'm not racist, but, okay? You're racist and you have to call it that. At some degree, some level. We have to acknowledge it.

This is challenging to admit, but I was part of a plane full of people that all made judgment based on the color of someone's skin. It was recently after the tragedy of 9-11, just days afterwards, I was on a flight going somewhere, and if you remember, the airline industry was in shambles, security was, you know, rightly so, a nightmare and such.

And so I boarded this plane. I was about halfway back. And a few rows in front of me, there was a guy that looked very Middle Eastern that boarded the plane. And everybody around me started kind of whispering, the guy sitting next to me, go, we need to keep an eye on this guy. To make things even worse, he started sweating. And then he made a phone call and talked to someone in a language that was not our language.

then the guy deborded the plane before we ever pushed off, and then he re-borded the plane. He was sweating, and I'm telling you, I don't know anybody on the plane that wasn't making some kind of plan to, you know, defend, attack, whatever. The guy debordered the plane, the door shut, and he never got back on. Now, what a lot of people would say, well, that's understandable because of the environment.

Okay, call it what you want. There was a plane full of people that made a judgment based on the color of, of a guy's skin. Because I'm here to tell you, if he had been Asian American, African American, Caucasian American, everybody would have thought the dude's sick, he's scared, he's got diarrhea, and he's a plug in his bottom, something's going wrong there. But nobody would have been afraid, and everybody was making a judgment. Why? Based on the color of someone's skin. It takes courage, it takes honesty, it takes integrity, to recognize truthfully any prejudices, any racism, to admit it before God, and to repent of this. And we're going to talk about it in our

life groups this week. We're going to be open, transparent, and we're going to find healing. Number one, we're going to acknowledge any prejudices. The second thing is we're going to seek to understand others. We're going to seek to understand others. Like I said at the beginning of this message, I have a very limited perspective, and I have to know that. And so I don't understand how others have been abused, mistreated, unfairly rejected, and on and on and on. And so it helps me to enter into dialogue with those who've experienced things far different than I have. And so that's what I did in preparation for this. I talked to a lot of people. And I learned so much that I didn't know, I just gathered a few of our staff members to ask them to help maybe you understand some

things that maybe some of you don't yet fully understand. Well, I want to thank you guys for spending some time to help all of us understand as we're talking about racism. We all come from different backgrounds that have different perspectives. What are some of the experiences that you guys have had? Alan George and I, we tend to get confused for each other a lot. So Alan George is the church online pastor and people come up to me all the time and say, Pastor Alan, I'll watch you online all the time. And so when there's a math question in the room, everyone's like, hey, Alan, do you can you? I have no clue, man. Like Mexican food. Hey, Sam, how do we season this meat?

But I know. I know. I was like, come on, man. I look like Charles Barkley to everybody. That happens to me a lot. But actually, mistaken identity is something that I've dealt with before. I used to be in retail banking. I actually called somebody, and I was talking to them,

and they actually came into the branch looking for Jeremy. And when they got there, and I said, I'm Jeremy. And they were shocked. They're like, whoa, you didn't sound like that. You sounded like, and they caught themselves right before. You didn't sound black. It almost makes you feel like you have to fight harder than everybody else and work harder than anybody else and study harder than anybody else just to get an equal opportunity

Being a larger of stature black man and Being a former athlete you dress a certain way when you're outside of the professional realm Well, I can tell you that there's been plenty of times when I've gone into a store and I've been browsing looking around and I find myself being trailed and And for some reason, I was like, okay, maybe they're just trying to give great customer service. I get followed when I go into the store, and then my husband is white. So when he walks in behind me, then they kind of, okay, we don't need to follow her. She's fine, you know? So I get that too, and I'm a tiny little person.

You know, just different compliments. Like if someone says, oh, well, you're beautiful or you're intelligent or something like that. But then the thing that also gets added to it is for a black girl. And I always, like I remember the first time that I heard that and how that made me feel, like to think like, oh, well, I maybe rise in just this one section. But as far as like the, you know, other standards of beauty, like, no, you don't have that. So I know some of you would have experienced challenges as a kid growing up. Who has a story or two that was hard for you? We came to America when I was five years old.

And so the name calling from other kids was pretty challenging. We didn't quite understand why we were being called names, like Wetback or Beiner. They made no sense to us. Those names made no sense, but something inside is just, I just knew, like, that's hurtful. Where I was playing with some friends, and, you know, they had commented on it and were like, oh, but she has dark skin. And then I'm looking like, what do you mean? Like, what's wrong with my skin?

And that just created something that stuck with me for a really long time that I had to bring to the Lord and say, I need healing of this because I feel like I'm less than because of that. Absolutely. I remember growing up in a predominantly white area of town and being on the playground and I had a group of kids that wouldn't play with me and I couldn't figure out what the problem was. And then as I was walking by, I overheard them say, man, my dad told me that we shouldn't play with niggers. And I was like, wow. I mean, it was first of all, the first time that I was first reminded that I was black and I had never been called that word before. See, hopefully that'll bring a little understanding to some people who might not naturally understand

because I never faced that as a kid in the second grade had someone turned away from me because of the color of my skin and that gives me context. There's something else that's interesting I'll just share kind of almost off the record, but afterwards we sat down and had lunch together and we were talking and they told me stories that were much more severe than the ones that they talked about on video. And I said, how come you didn't share those stories? And they all said some version of, well, we want to be more a part of the solution than we want to be a part of the problem.

And we didn't want to make people look bad. That was interesting to me that they actually held back because they didn't want to make people look bad. And I applaud them as we as a church want to be a part of the solution. and not a part of the problem. What do we do as Jesus' followers? The first thing we're going to do is we're going to recognize any prejudices in our own life.

Second thing we're going to do is seek to understand those who might be different from us. And the third thing if we're taking notice is this. We're going to love those who are different from us. Love those different from you. Love them deeply from the heart. This is what God calls us to do, to love those who are different from us.

In fact, to me, one of the most moving stories of love that cross, the road happened in 1996, the year we started our church, when a group of Ku Klux Klan members held a rally in Michigan. And the police knew there could be tension, and so they actually put up a barrier between the KKK members and those who were protesting the hate. Well, there was a guy who infiltrated the protester side.

He was wearing a Confederate flag t-shirt and had white supremacist tattoos on his arms. tattoos on his arm and a group of people recognized him. Someone pointed out to him and said, kill the Nazi, kill the Nazi. And so suddenly everybody just ran and started beating this guy senseless. Well, there was an 18-year-old girl named Keisha Thomas, an African-American girl who ran and threw her body over this other man to protect him from the blows. In fact, here's the famous picture of this. What in the world would cause a, a, young girl to put herself at physical risk to protect a man who most likely would want to harm

her if he had the opportunity. Who does that? Let me tell you who does. A committed follower of Jesus does. And interviews later on, she said that her faith, she's a committed Catholic Christian, said her faith played a big role in this. And then she said, and I quote, she said, I knew what it like to be hurt. The many times that had happened, I wish someone would have stood up for me. What did she do? What did this brave young girl do? You know what she did? She walked across the street to protect another human being who very likely would have wished her harm. That's how you neighbor. That's how you show the love of Jesus. In fact, now she's got more of a national platform which is well-deserved. And so she speaks out on racial reconciliation.

And I was very interested in what she said. She was talking about how you don't have to do like big, big things to show love to people. And I quote Akisha when she said this. She said, the biggest thing you can do is just be kind to another human being. It can come down to eye contact or a smile. It doesn't have to be a huge monumental act. What is it? It's just showing love.

It's showing decency. honor, respect, consideration, treating another human being like another human being. It's showing the love of Jesus. In fact, please write this down. This is so important. What is racism? Racism isn't just the presence of hatred. It's also the absence of love.

It's not just the presence of hatred. I hate you. It's also the absence of showing I accept you. I embrace you. You are my brother. You are my sister. I love you. It's not just the presence of hatred.

It's the absence of love, the absence of touch, the absence of embrace, the absence of saying, you are welcome, we are one together. It's showing love. How is the world going to know that we are followers of Jesus anyway? Do you know what the Bible says? Let me tell you what it doesn't say. It doesn't say they'll know we are followers of Jesus by our perfect theology. Doesn't say that.

It doesn't say they'll know we're followers of Jesus by our church attendance. Guess what, I'm a member of such and such church. I've been a member since 1972. Okay, doesn't say that. Doesn't say they'll know we're followers of Jesus if we've been baptized, which is important, or if we give money or on and on and on. The word of God says they will know that we are followers of Jesus

if we what? If we love one another. If we love one another. If we love one another, not loving those that look like us and we're born where we were born and have the same color of our skin, but if we love our,

neighbor and who is our neighbor? Your neighbor is the next person you come in contact with. Well, how do you love them? You love them as you've been loved. How did Jesus love me? Let me tell you what. While I was sinning, Jesus died for me. Scripture teaches us that that while we were still sinning, Christ died for us. He didn't die for us because we were good. He died for us because God is good. He loved me when I didn't deserve it. Because I've been freely loved in that way, what do I do? I reflect that type of love to others. And that's why I hope you'll understand. It doesn't matter the color of your skin, where you come from, what your background is. You are welcome here in the family of God. There is one race that is the human race. And I pray

you feel more than just my heart, but you feel God's heart. You are welcomed and you are loved. You are loved. Racism isn't just the presence of hate. It's the absence of love. What do we do? We do what Keisha did. We walk across the street. We do what the Samaritan did for the Jewish man.

We walk across the street and extend an arm of love. That's how we dabor. I love what Paul said in Galatians 3, 28. There was so much racial tension. as it revolved around who's a Christian in the early first century days. And Paul said this. He said, there's neither Jew nor Gentile. Don't give me that Jew or Gentile stuff.

Neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. For you're all one. He said, you're all one in Christ Jesus. You're all one in Christ Jesus. We need to embrace that God loves Asian Americans and African Americans and Latin Americans and Native Americans and even Americans that have cats. That's how good God's love is.

God loves Cubans and Hondurans and Nigerians and Jamaicans and Koreans and Malaysians and Canadians and Iranians and Croatians. Listen, when we get into heaven, we're all going to be represented there. You recognize this when John had a vision of heaven? Here's what he said in Revelation 7, 9, and 10. This is powerful. He saw heaven and said, there before me was a great multitude that no one could count. Where were they from? They were from every nation and every tribe.

every people and every language standing before the throne and before the lamb, and they cried out in a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God. Who does it belong to? Salvation belongs to our God. Who does it belong to somebody? Salvation belongs to our God, not to my God, but to our God, holding hands with people from different tribes, different nations, different language, say that's how good our God is. If we can spend eternity in heaven together, certainly we can have a meal together. That's how to neighbor. That's how we love one another. Heaven will be full and we might as well show the love of God on earth all day long. Racism is not a skin issue.

It's a sin issue. It's unacceptable to God. It's unacceptable to us. It will not be tolerated in church. The only thing that we do, the only debt we have is a debt to love because God has loved us. and therefore we will love one another. Let me close it out with Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 13.

Verse 12 is in your notes, but look at verse 13 first. I've taught this verse, I've said this verse probably more than any other verse in the Bible, probably more so. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And I've said it over again. Doesn't matter where you come from. Doesn't matter what your background is. Doesn't matter what you've believed in the past. Doesn't matter what you've done. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But I want to show you what comes exactly before that verse

because right before it, there is an issue of race. This is what it says. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is the Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. Now read it in that context. Doesn't matter the color of your skin. Doesn't matter where you were born. Listen, last time I checked,

didn't have control of where you were born or what color your skin was. You didn't pick that. Doesn't matter where you come from. Doesn't matter the color of your skin. Doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter how bad you've been. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Salvation belongs to our God. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus didn't say who to neighbor. He only showed us how to neighbor, assuming that the next person you see, is going to be your neighbor. Racism is not a skin issue.

It is a sin issue. It is unacceptable to God, and it is unacceptable to us. It's not just the presence of hatred. It's the absence of love. And therefore, as Jesus followers, what are we called to do? Love the Lord our God,

with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, and all of our strength. And because he loved us when we didn't deserve it, what do we do? We love our,

neighbor as our self and i believe that every single one of us can be a small part of the solution because we've been so changed by the love of god the only thing we can do is love one another father may this be true of our church we ask that your holy spirit would do a healing work in all of our hearts that we truly could represent the grace and the love and the power of jesus as you call us to love one another. All of our churches today as you're reflecting, I want to just ask one very pointed question, and then we're going to talk about something.

It's even more eternal in mind. The first question is this, and think about it for a moment. I wonder how many of you want to be more a part of the solution and never a part of the problem, saying, as I've been loved by God, I want to show his love to everyone all the time. I want to be a good neighbor.

I want to show that type of love. And all of our churches, if you say yes, no matter what I maybe believed in the past, no matter maybe how I was even hurt, I want to be on God's side, showing his love a part of the solution and never a part of the problem. Would you lift up your hands right now?

Just all over the place. God, I thank you for churches full of people who want to get this right. God, we take a moment and just even examine our own hearts. And God, we repent of any prejudice, any racism that may be in our heart. Maybe we learned it and heard about it and it's deeply, and maybe we were a victim of it. And so therefore it's easier to justify no matter what, God, we ask you to cleanse us.

God, forgive us. Father, I pray especially for those who've been hurt, wronged, overlooked, rejected, abused, mistreated. God, I pray that as they've experienced your grace, that somehow you would give them the grace even to forgive others. For those of us, God, who've wronged people or even just judged in our heart, God, would you forgive us? Would you change us?

God, as there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, God, we recognize under Jesus, we are all one. Help us to show that type of love. Give us opportunities, God, to understand one another and to passionately show the love. of Jesus. As you have so loved us, God, help us as Jesus followers to love one another. Now, as you keep praying today, nobody looking around. Something amazing is about to happen because the love of God is here

and it's very real and God is drawing some of you toward himself even now. Let's be honest. Many of you, if we sat down, just you and me sat down maybe across from coffee and I ask you spiritual questions. You know, where do you stand with God? Some of you right now, you would be unsure. You might say things like, well, I try to be a good person. You know, I go to church when I can. I'm not as bad as so-and-so. I'm trying to, you know, I'm trying to do better, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And yet you're still unsure. Why? Because if that's your answer, you are basing your answer on your performance and you know deep down, your performance is inadequate. Why? Because it is, and so is mine. The reality. is every single one of us, you, me, and every person here has sinned and falls incredibly short

of God's standards. And this is why God is so amazing and so good, because God loved us so much that he did something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. God became one of us in the person of Jesus. He left heaven and came to earth. He essentially walked across the street. Why? To show us how much he loved us, Jesus hung out with those that others rejected. Jesus hung out with those who were raised on the wrong side of the street. Jesus hung out with those that religion despised and he loved them where they were, but he didn't leave them where they were. Why? Because Jesus was without sin and he became sin for us on the cross. He died on the third day. He rose again. Now what is the truth? The truth is everyone

who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Doesn't matter if you're Jew or Gentile, black or white, if you're red skin, dark skin, yellow skin, brown skin, if you don't have skin, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be safe. Doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter how bad you've been. Doesn't matter where you've come from. When you put your faith in Jesus, that is enough. And all of our churches, there are those of you, you recognize you need his forgiveness and you need his grace. And all of your churches, as you recognize, this is me. I need to call on him. You do that now. Say, Jesus, take my life. I give it to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All of our churches and say,

yes, that's my prayer. Right back over here. God bless you. Way back over here as well. Praise God for you. Others of you, way back here toward the back, right back over here on this side. Yes, Jesus. I surrender. Others of you say, yes, I need his grace. I need his mercy. Church online, you click right below me and we are going to pray passionately together as we, the family of God, welcome new people into God's family. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive me. of all my sins, make me new. I believe Jesus died for me and rose again so I could live for you.

Fill me with your spirit so I could serve you always. Help me to love you and my neighbor as you've loved me. In Jesus' name I pray, Life Church, worship big, worship loud. Welcome those born into God's family today. Thanks again for tuning in and joining us here at Life Church. If you'd like to see if there's a Lifechurch location in your area, all you have to do is go to life.church slash locations.

Plus, if you like to learn more about how you can make a difference in your community, Life Church has developed an all new reading plan on the U-Version Bible app. To start, all you have to do is search how to neighbor inside the app, and you can start reading that plan today. You know, here at Life Church, we're called to not simply go to church, but rather to be the church and be a part of all that God is doing around the world. Bree Karate from Life Church Albany is doing just that,

and she has an amazing story that tells us why. I love the fact that we are trying to, as a church, make people fully devoted followers of Christ, but I didn't realize, you know, what being a fully devoted follower of Christ looked like until I attended Life Church and saw that lived out. Once you can wrap your mind around, The fact that the God of the universe wants to have relationship with me

and just knows every detail of my life. People just need to hear that they are good enough and that they are worthy and they are valued. And until you know any better, you don't think that there's anything greater for you. So I like to just be that middle person who does tell somebody, you know, you are worthy and you don't have to stay right where you're at. God loves you where you're at, but just like I said,

He has so many more things in store for you. I don't even like to think about what life would be like without such a powerful tool. And I'm so glad that God has called me to be a part of such an awesome church. We love hearing the incredible life change stories of how God is working in and through your life. In fact, if you have a personal life change story, we would love to hear about it. All you have to do is send us an email to Stories atlife.church. You know, we have a reason for everything we do. do, and it's to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, and we do it all,

because we believe whoever finds God truly finds life.